Changes
by lynsoccer5
Summary: Korra returns to Republic City after having her bending restored and goes in search of a certain someone in order to give him his bending back, but will he want it? Post-season finale Tahnorra


Korra snuggled further into her cocoon of warmth, gazing out from the fur blanket she was sharing with Mako at the landscape that scrolled past from beneath Ugi. They were on their way back to Republic City, and while Mako had no trouble falling into a sound sleep with his arms wrapped around Korra, she was unable to do the same.

Her mind was buzzing, her veins seemed to be coursing with an energizing liquid. She could not wait to set foot onto the solid ground of the city, and the reason wasn't simply because flight made her slightly queasy. She now had the power to return bending, and she knew the first person she was going to bless with her gift.

As Korra watched the land unfold her mind wandered back to the events that had led up to this moment. Mostly, she remembered flashes. Katara's face hovering over her, lighted from the glow of her healing water, the lines on her face becoming more defined with concentration and worry as the session continued with no sign of success. The people who were the closest to her in the entire world, staring at her with such pity it was gut wrenching. Mako, confessing his love for her. And then….Aang. Aang and every other Avatar of all time. Looking at her, her looking at them, and realizing that they were all one. Then power, sheer power. The wind born her aloft, the earth pulsated around her, fire seemed to penetrate her entire body, and the sea was completely at her command. Then Mako was there. Her emotions were haywire, she was still high on adrenaline, suddenly she heard herself saying "I love you, too."

What had she done. Korra had asked herself constantly since that day. She might be the Avatar, but she was still just a teenager, she still had stupid hormones and those feeling things that just make life complicated. Asami had taken it so well, like the true lady of class that she is.

_"I need to do this alone," Mako had said, caressing Korra's face that was lined with worry._

_Korra liked and respected Asami, and already she was beginning to second guess herself. Was Mako really worth jeopardizing their friendship? He had to be, what was she thinking? She loved him, didn't she?_

_"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you….?"_

_"No, I owe her this. I need to look her in the face and tell her."_

_He got to his feet and left the room, and Korra began the grueling task of waiting. The minutes seemed to drag, and she was getting fidgety. What was going on? Was Asami crushed? She was just about to get up from her position, seated on the very edge of the bed, and go in search of the pair, when suddenly the door slid open. Her eyes jerked up and locked with a pair of green ones set in a face framed by long dark hair. The green eyes spoke pain and sorrow, and Korra tore her gaze away from them, ashamed of herself._

_"Korra," the voice was delicate, restrained, yet Korra still could not bring herself to look at the girl standing in her doorway. Footsteps sounded as she approached, and she knelt in front of Korra, taking her chin in her hand and bringing it up so they faced each other full on, the distance between them a matter of inches._

_"Korra, listen to me," Asami said in a commanding voice, and Korra fought back tears as she forced herself to focus on what the girl was saying. "If I had to lose Mako to anyone, I'm glad it was you," with that Asami stood, turned, and exited the room with all the poise and grace of a queen._

That night Korra had tossed and turned in her bed, unable to get rid of the feeling that she was doing something horribly wrong. She is the Avatar, that is her first and foremost duty. Not only is it a duty, but a privilege, she has been given the gift to serve the people of the world, and that in itself is a mind-boggling prospect. That should be the one reason, the one purpose of her life, right? Then why on earth did she feel as though this matter of love was as pivotal as any moment in her life? Why could she take one hundred blows and keep fighting, but felt paralyzed now just because of insubstantial emotions she couldn't explain?

Breakfast the next morning had been awkward to say the least, Korra felt ashamed and couldn't look Mako or Asami in the eye, Mako himself was confused by Korra's odd behavior and decided to give her some space while simultaneously avoiding meeting Asami's gaze. Asami, in turn, stared into her bowl of untouched porridge, while Bolin, who had been brought up to speed by Mako the night before, tried in vain to make lighthearted jokes in order to brighten the mood but the end result was the same as would have been were he talking to rocks.

After breakfast they split into two groups to make the journey home. Korra, Mako, Pema, Ikki, Meelo, Rohan and Tenzin climbing onto Ugi's back, whilst Asami, Bolin, Lin, and Jinora clambered on the back of another almost identical one. Jinora was more than capable of handling a sky bison, and soon theirs had left Ugi far behind.

During the journey Korra had been doing a lot of thinking, it helped that Mako and all the rest, with the exception of Tenzin, had fallen asleep early on and Tenzin was too preoccupied with flying to make conversation. This left Korra completely alone with her thoughts, which had started to fly in every direction. Her mind had at first been dominated by thoughts of the future. Now that Amon had run off, probably to some decrepit spit of land in the middle of the ocean, what was she going to do? Obviously she would start honing her newfound air bending skills, but would she continue to protect Republic City? Who did they need protecting from? The triads were the first thing that came to mind, she needed to figure out some way to stop them from taking advantage of helpless citizens.

And just because Amon was gone didn't mean that the revolution was over. The equalists movement still had a strong basis, and the uncovering of Amon as a bender manipulating people with lies and blood bending would probably just serve to fuel their anger. They would probably go underground for a while, regroup, try to figure out a new course of action, but Korra could not shake the feeling that they would be back and stronger than ever. She would need to be ready to fight them, but probably alone this time. It seemed unlikely that Team Avatar would ever get back together, and the thought brought tears to her eyes.

What had she done. Probably the three best people you could meet in the entirety of your life, and she had alienated one, accidentally broke the heart of the other, and was dating the last yet becoming more unsure of her actions by the hour. Why was the Avatar made like a human? How could the spirits expect one to be able to perform their duty well and truly when they were still brought down by the mental weight of having emotions and feelings? If she had been the one to create the Avatar, the first thing she would have done would have been to take away all emotion from the person. Make their mind sharp as a knife and their heart as hard as granite.

Korra sighed, and leaned back against Mako's embrace. She allowed her eyelids to droop and her mind to wander away from the chaos and confusion that was her life at the moment. And wander it did, back to the same place as always. To that far corner of her mind, the corner she tried to forget existed by focusing on everything else. She realized where her thoughts were going, but instead of suppressing them as she normally would have, she embraced them.

"Hello, Uh-vatar," his silky voice purred in her mind. A smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she began weaving a tapestry of all the thoughts, emotions, and hopes that were connected with that voice. The end result was a dream, one in which she sought him out and told him that she had the ability to restore his bending. This, of course, was exactly what she intended to do when she got back to the city, though in her dream it was a little more fantastical than it probably would be in real life. At one point she was sure that they both had sprouted wings due to a love potion and were flying to a magical castle in the sky to get married. Darn that Ikki.

Korra was jostled awake much too soon for her liking by a bumpy landing. She was just about to make a sarcastic comment to Tenzin about his superior sky bison-handling skills when she realized that they were at Air Temple Island. As she quickly scanned the area she saw the other bison was already bedded down, telling her that Jinora and the others had gotten back some time ago.

There was no time to lose, she quickly got up, throwing the rest of the blanket on a still-groggy Mako and taking a flying leap off Ugi's back. As soon as her foot hit the ground she was sprinting towards the cliff facing the city.

"Where are you going?" she heard Mako shout from Ugi's back.

"I have something I need to do!" she yelled over her shoulder, as she leapt from the edge and plunged towards the water below.

In no time at all she was out of the water and running through the city, her pounding feet keeping tempo with her racing heart. She dodged satomobiles and pedestrians alike in her frantic race to…to... she stopped dead. She had no idea where she was going. She knew who she wanted to see, but she had no idea how to find him.

Just as Korra was about to sink to the ground in defeat, it hit her. The day she had seen him in the police station after the attack on the bending arena. He must have been a witness, and they would have put his name and address in the file! She got her bearings and took off towards the police headquarters.

It took about five minutes of solid sprinting to reach the station, and when she did she burst right though the doors in the bold style that was her trademark. What a sight she was for the spectators, the Avatar dripping sweat and panting, running straight up to Lin Beifong, who had only just arrived to reassume her position as Chief of Police, and asking her directions. Lin being slightly baffled at the occurrence gave Korra the directions she was looking for, and just like that the Avatar spun around and was off.

Another 15 minutes of sprinting, broken up by two quick breaks in which she gulped for oxygen, and Korra finally made it to her destination. She took a few seconds to bend the sweat from her body and recollect herself before looking up and examining the house. It was large and stood on the outskirts of the city, right on the beach overlooking the bay. It was one story and looked as though it would be airy and spacious under normal circumstances, but at the moment it looked like a war zone. There were scorch marks everywhere, the once-beautiful flower beds were trampled and neglected and Korra saw dark spots on the flagstone walkway that couldn't be mistaken for anything other than dried blood.

Her heartbeat quickened, _w__hat happened here?_ she thought as she raced towards the door and knocked hard and fast out of desperation. She waited and waited, and just as she was about to kick the door off its hinges she heard shuffling feet inside, and there was a click as the door opened to reveal…..him.

Tahno.

The sight of him took her breath away, and it took her a couple moments to take it all in. She hadn't seen him in a number of weeks, and during that time his appearance had changed drastically. His hair was now cropped short, almost like Mako's, and he seemed taller and was most definitely leaner and more muscular. Despite these changes his eyes still retained the dullness that she had seen in them at the police station, but without his eyeliner she felt as though she could truly see them. He was wearing baggy black pants and a white fitted tank top, though he was lacking shoes.

These observations were nearly forgotten when she took stock of his injuries. A black eye to be proud of, for starters, along with multiple cuts and bruises along the length of his arms with some sticking out of the collar of his tank top, suggesting that they were spread on his entire torso, and probably his legs too. On his shoulder, partially hidden by the line of his shirt, was a pristine white bandage, covering what, Korra could not begin to guess.

"What happened…" she began, when suddenly Tahno's eyes lit up. "Korra!" he cried, grabbing her into a fierce hug.

"Hey!" she laughed, hugging him back. "What in the name of the spirits have you been up to? You look like a human punching bag!"

Tahno set her down gently, wincing as he did. "Eh, it's nothing. I got into it with some equalists during the revolution. How are you? I was so worried about you, I hadn't heard anything since Amon disappeared, I thought you had been hurt! I heard Asami caught her own father, tough break that. But it had to be done. Sorry about the mess, this place has been pretty busy for a while." as he flew through this commentary Tahno had taken Korra by the wrist and led her into the house. While the outside of the house had looked like a war front, the inside looked like a hospital. Ignoring all of this Tahno took her into the kitchen and literally set her onto a stool next to a high counter, then he started bustling around putting a kettle of water on and going to a cupboard to take out two mugs.

Korra was momentarily stunned by this complete turn around in character and had allowed herself to be silently dragged into the kitchen, but being sat down on the stool jolted her brain back to why she had originally come and she couldn't handle it any longer. "I can give you your bending back," she blurted out suddenly.

Tahno froze, his back was to her, the mugs still in his hands. Slowly and deliberately he lowered his arms and set them onto the countertop, then quietly closed the cupboard. After a moment more he turned to face her, his eyes unreadable yet they seemed to bore into her skull.

"Do you know what I did when I got home from the police station?" his voice was quiet, restrained. Korra, once again stunned by this drastic turn of character, mutely shook her head, but his next words hit her like a boulder.

"I tried to commit suicide."

Korra tried to find words, tried to say something profound, but he continued.

"I came home, and I realized that without my bending I had nothing. All the people I had surrounded myself with, all the fame and glory, it all meant nothing. I had done nothing at all to better the world, and I treated my bending like a slave. I felt like I had no right to continue living, and I thought killing myself was the only respectable thing to do…," he paused, and Korra could feel warm relief spreading through her veins, if he had died, if he hadn't been there when she got home- but wait, he's still talking.

"Apparently the spirits decided the world wasn't getting rid of me yet, as I am still here. But they didn't just keep me here, they gave me incredible wisdom. I realized that without my bending I could start anew and help the city. I began training, learning how to fight hand to hand, with weapons, against benders and non benders. Then the equalists attacked, and I was ready. I brought all my neighbors into my house and barricaded it. Those who were benders helped me defend it, and the non benders took care of those who were injured. It was the most humbling experience of my life, getting my bending taken away was the best thing that ever happened to me, it made me a better person….but I don't know if I deserve it back."

He stood before her, shaking, having just poured out his heart to her as he had never done with anyone before. He felt completely vulnerable, and he was terrified at how she would react, if she could possibly understand his feelings. Suddenly, he felt a pair of soft, muscled arms wrap around his waist. A sculpted body pressed against his, and her head rested on his chest. He returned her embrace without hesitation, and it was like they were puzzle pieces meant for each other. As he breathed in the scent of her hair he relaxed, and all worry fled his mind. They stood holding each other, sharing their strength, her listening to his heartbeat, him feeling her chest rise and fall slightly.

Finally Korra spoke from her position buried in his chest. "Having your bending back isn't going to turn you back into the person you were. You've proved that you have changed, in every sense of the word, and even without your bending you can fight, heal, and save. I just want to give you back the part of yourself that was taken away, the part that you definitely deserve."

Tahno was silent for a moment, then he released her and held her at arms length, searching her eyes. "Okay," he said after a moment, "let's do this."

With no ceremony he knelt before her in the middle of his kitchen, she placed her hands upon his brow and chest, and suddenly she transformed. As he looked on her eyes began to glow, and they were both surrounded by what looked like light made from crystals. Her eyes were startling, and the way the brilliant white light struck her dark skin made her look like a beautiful warrior goddess, but before he had time to follow this train of thought he began to feel something. A soft stirring in the deepest recesses of his heart and mind, then suddenly it grew in intensity until he felt as though there were a raging river inside of him. His eyes closed and he could feel the water coursing through his limbs and crashing against his ribcage. It was everywhere, inside of his eyes, on his hands, thought his body, he felt it and he was water.

Just as suddenly as it started it had ended, but he could still feel it, it was back and stronger than ever. He grabbed Korra by the hand and flew out the open doors onto a patio that overlooked the beach, but he didn't stop there. They raced across the sand towards the ocean where a beautiful full moon was rising over the water. They could both feel its presence in the very essence of their souls, and Tahno had never relished a sensation more than he did that.

Suddenly he stopped and dropped Korra's hand, as she looked on he took two more steps towards the water and stopped again. He then lifted his arms together above his head and made a swift downward slicing movement, and with that the water directly in front of him parted, revealing at least one mile long of sea floor while water crashed towards the sky on either side of the rift.

Korra had never seen this magnitude of bending, she was sure that she couldn't even achieve something like this if not in the Avatar State. Her breath caught, and she watched Tahno release the water, the sides of which raced towards each other, creating a spectacular spray when they slammed together. Before all of the spray had even fallen he had turned to face her, and she saw without a doubt the brightness that had returned to his eye. Suddenly, without either really being aware that it was happening, they were kissing, his hands on her neck and the small of her back, and her fingers intertwined in his hair.

After a moment they released each other, both blushing fiercely and slightly disheveled. Then, with no warning, Tahno picked Korra up over his shoulder and ran into the water. Laughing he threw her in, and when she came up sputtering water he started laughing even harder, but Korra would have none of that. She water bent a ball of water into his face leaving him dripping and looking glum, which sent her into a fit of giggles. A long, comical water bending fight ensued, and though they were joking Korra could not help but be impressed by his level of skill. The fight ended with Tahno tackling her into the water, and pinning her to the sand. While they were under he took both her wrists in one hand and used his other to bend an air pocket for their bodies, so they were laying on the bottom with the moon shining though the water casting ripples onto their bodies.

"So, how about those private lessons, Uh-vatar," Tahno joked, his face inches from Korra's, his voice taking on its old tonal quality as he uttered his nickname for her.

"I might actually take you up on that offer," she said, and then raised her lips to his.

It was late when Korra left Tahno's, and she took her time on her way back to Air Temple Island. She had a lot to think about, and many big decisions to make. She now knew she couldn't make everyone happy in everything that she did, but she needed to get her own life in order before she could help anyone else. So that's what she would do, she would get her life into a place where she was happy with it and able to help others. It wouldn't be easy, but at least it was a definitive course of action, and for the time being, she was completely content with her lot in life.


End file.
